Resistant bacteria found in dolphins

MELBOURNE -- Dolphins swimming in the Indian River Lagoon carry bacteria in their intestines resistant to many antibiotics, including penicillin, researchers said.

The so-called "super bugs" grow in one of every five bottlenose dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon, scientists from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce reported. The bacteria appear harmless to dolphins at this point, but they could trigger disease in any of the mammals with weakened immune systems.

There is no evidence to date that the antibiotic-resistant bacteria has caused human illness in the lagoon region. But researchers caution people exposed to higher concentrations of the "super" E. coli bacteria could face an increased risk of potentially deadly digestive or skin infections by eating the same seafood or swimming in the same lagoon waters as the dolphins.

The resistant bacteria could be seeping into the lagoon from sewage treatment plants, septic tanks and farm runoff, researchers noted.

"What I think we're seeing right now is sort of the tip of the iceberg," said Greg Bossart, a marine mammal pathologist at Harbor Branch, told Florida Today for a Saturday story.

The report also noted significantly higher findings of the resistant bacteria in the Charleston Harbor area in South Carolina.